IT was going to be out of many, one epic Jamaican experience, as its name creatively and provocatively promised. Outameni Experience, a ‘Patwatised’ play on the Jamaican national motto — Out of Many, One People — was designed to take visitors on a cultural and historic journey, meandering through time and space; a visual recount of the pain and triumphs of the Jamaican people covering 500 years from pre-slavery to Independence and beyond.

No one could have expected that an entity so nobly tasked would have found itself just over 50 years of that Independence so mired in controversy, in company with, of all things, the National Housing Trust (NHT), another bedrock of Jamaican genius and poor people’s hope for affordable shelter.

Ironically, the NHT got involved with Outameni — which is located at Orange Grove, Trelawny — when the housing agency was tossing around ideas as to what gift it could further present Jamaica as the nation commemorated its 50th anniversary of Independence in 2012.

But the germ of the idea of government intervention in the entity belongs to former Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who tossed it to his then Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who in turn flung it to new Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill after general elections, before it ended up in the lap of Easton Douglas’ NHT Board.

Amidst the raging controversy over the purchase of the financially ailing Outameni for $180 million, the Jamaica Observer, relying on top-level sources close to the drama, attempted to piece together the puzzle that has rocked the People’s National Party (PNP) Administration.

Here now is the anatomy of what some are insisting is a scandal:

Outameni bleeding red ink

• On July 30, 2011, Lennie Little-White, executive chairman and chief conceptualiser of Outameni Experience, alerted Golding to the dire situation facing the company which had been bleeding red ink profusely.

By then, the State-run Jamaica Development Bank (JDB) had cut its own losses and run, writing off $80 million of investment in the loss-making entity.

Capital and Credit Merchant Bank (CCMB) had indicated it would foreclose on its mortgages by disposing of the assets it held as collateral.

Little-White, known widely for his successful Mediamix film outfit that produced the steamy local soap Royal Palm Estate, was now a desperate man.

Little-White and his team had dreamt hard and came up with what they thought was nothing short of a Jamaican winner.

Outameni Experience comprised ‘villages’ depicting the various ethnic groups, including the earliest inhabitants of Jamaica, the Tainos, who were mistakenly called Arawaks, and the later arrivants from Europe, Africa and Asia.

They latterly added more contemporary Jamaican history-makers in Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, Veronica Campbell Brown, the most decorated female athlete, and Louise Bennett- Coverley, the cultural icon who popularised the dialect Patwa, in a feature called ‘Heroes Walk’.

Outameni’s parent company, Orange Valley Holdings Limited, had assets including 9.1 acres of land; the 300-year-old Orange Grove Great House; and the builtattraction which David deLisser and Associates valued at a total of $331 million in November 2012.

This was the collateral held by Capital and Credit.

The JDB owned US$500,000 of preference shares, the amount it wrote off. Orange Valley Holdings was the sole owner of the built-attraction (motion pictures, props, multimedia equipment, works of art, costumes, intellectual property and the like) whose replacement value was put at $8 million.

By the time he wrote his July 30 letter to Golding, Little-White was looking at US$989,464 in loans and interest accruing at upwards of nine per cent per annum.

Recoverable expenses outstanding as at that date were a mere J$3,088,859 and US$4,174. The story, as the ancestors used to say, had ‘come to bump’. One of the earliest signs of trouble was the decision to close the attraction on some days of the week.

The staff complement of 50 full-time employees had dropped to 35 and falling.

Little-White was staring down the barrel and there was very little he could do about it.

We must save Outameni, Golding to Bartlett

• Little-White sent out an SOS.Golding, himself a believer in the concept of the project and knowing moreover that a prime minister’s burden is about more than the cash the Government has in its coffers, arranged a tour of the complex, accompanied by Bartlett.

At the end of the visit, he told Little-White he’d see what he could do, if anything.

• On October 10, 2011, Golding wrote to Bartlett, saying: “You accompanied me on my recent tour of the Outameni Experience. You are aware of the financial challenges that the venture faces.

The attached copy of a letter from Mr Lennie Little- White dated 30th July, 2011 highlights the dilemma.

“I had previously sought further intervention of the Development Bank of Jamaica but this was stymied by issues relating to financial viability, especially since the operation is already heavily leveraged.

A more creative solution needs to be found.

“It seems to me that the venture needs to be reconfigured, repackaged and re-capitalised with new investors and a new approach to marketing.

“It would be a terrible loss to see this attraction fold, being one of only a few that portray Jamaica’s history and indigenous culture. Your ministry, along with the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Urban Development Corporation and the Development Bank of Jamaica should consult to see what can possibly and reasonably be done to save this attraction from collapse.”

Elections intervene; P J Patterson, Kenneth Hall send testimonials

• Nothing eventful seemed to have happened between October and December 2011 when general elections were called and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) lost to Portia Simpson Miller’s PNP. A new tourism minister in Dr Wykeham McNeill took over.

But Little-White and his people continued to press the Outameni issue, receiving some impressive testimonials.

• On March 11, 2012, professor of social history, Verene Shepherd of the University of the West Indies Institute for Gender and Development Studies, sounded the alarm to Education Minister Ronnie Thwaites:

“I write on my own behalf, let me stress, to express astonishment at the news that Outameni may have to close.

I recall how pleased I was when it opened.

It struck me then that Outameni was doing what the Jamaica National Heritage Trust should have been doing! I have been to many countries and observed their heritage sites and I have been struck by the efforts to recreate and showcase ‘living history’, especially in places like the USA and the UK.

“Outameni is the only attraction in Jamaica that tries to have a vibrant, exciting and interactive method of showcasing our history and I hope that your ministry will do all it can to preserve it and prevent it from closing.

In fact, the Government of Jamaica should develop a partnership with Mr Lennie Little-White, the conceptualiser, so that Outameni can remain open.

“I have visited the site on three occasions, last time with staff and students from the UWI. It was amusing to see adults ‘talk back’ to the Tainos and enslaved Africans! We as teachers have difficulty getting the history across to our students in an engaging way, but they come alive when they see it played out before their eyes… If we get rid of Outameni, and with Caribbean history not being widespread in our schools, Jamaica will continue on its backward journey into historical forgetfulness.”

• On March 14, Thwaites received another letter, this time from no less than former Prime Minister P J Patterson: “Outameni Experience was conceived primarily as an attraction in the tourism sector, but its patronage has come primarily from our educational institutions — from kindergarten to tertiary.

That reflects the yearning of our teachers and students to learn more about the history and traditions of our nation.

“The fact that Outameni Experience displays the best of our culture and chronicles Jamaica’s history in an interactive presentation, makes it unique as a cultural and educational exposé that celebrates our diverse ethnicity and our development from a colonial outpost to an independent nation-state.

“The recent addition of a ‘Heroes Walk’ that pays homage to our outstanding athletes and cultural icons, widens its appeal and provides another avenue for educational awareness about our heroes.

“Given its acceptance in the marketplace and the public desire to expand the frontiers of awareness about our past, every effort should be made to preserve it as an important teaching tool for education, while still remaining a valuable asset to the tourism industry.”

• On the same day, yet another letter turned up on Thwaites’ desk, this time from former Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall: “I have learned, with alarm, that the Outameni Experience is in imminent danger of closure due to the major challenges the programme has been facing since 2011.

For my part, I would consider such closure an irreplaceable loss to the educational and cultural fabric of Jamaica.

The Outameni Experience was conceived of and built by the directors as a monument to celebrate our history and culture through dance, drama, theatre, film and architecture.

“To the best of my knowledge, there are no comparable educational tools in Jamaica or in the Englishspeaking Caribbean capable of demonstrating the complexity of the Jamaican experience.

At its best, it will provide the participants with an in-depth understanding of what it was like to live through the various stages of our cultural and historical evolution.

“I am also of the view that it will motivate students at our tertiary institutions, such as Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, to pursue their courses of study with the assurance that they would find creative opportunities for employment after graduation… “Based on my own visit to Outameni Experience,

I am appealing to you to use your good offices to ensure that this unique contributor to the Jamaican education system will be retained for future generations.”

An Emancipation Park in the West

• On March 20, 2012, still conscious that Outameni was faced — like the Tainos — with extinction, Bartlett, now Member of Parliament, wrote to McNeill telling him about Golding’s letter and imploring him to take up the matter:

“Further to letter from former Prime Minister Bruce Golding requesting that I coordinate with two other ministries a programme to address the issues of Outameni, I write to indicate that the co-ordination had actually begun, but was overtaken by the events of December 29 (elections).

I urge a continued effort on your part as minister of tourism and entertainment, as well as that of your colleague in ensuring that the valuable cultural experience of Outameni be preserved to be the national treasure that it really is.”

• The Jamaica Observer did not ascertain what McNeill did with Bartlett’s letter, but somewhere between March and November 2012, Little-White approached the NHT for assistance to save the project. It was fortuitous.

A subcommittee of the NHT board had been established to come up with an idea to mark the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence, buoyed by spectacular images of Jamaican athletes, led by Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce thrashing the world on the blazing tracks of the 2012 London Olympics and the Independence Village which was drawing thousands of Jamaicans nightly to Independence Park.

At first, the committee came up with the idea of replicating the wildly popular Emancipation Park in the West. The park is notable for Laura Facey-Cooper’s nude statue of freed slaves with sizeable genitalia that almost tore Jamaica apart in a controversy as yet unmatched for the passion it stirred, including the current one over Outameni. The park idea was scuttled because it was going to be too expensive, given the astronomical cost of land. Then came Little-White.

• On November 7, 2012, the NHT board received Little- White’s offer to purchase the Outameni Experience and immediately liked the concept, thinking it would be a good fit for a 50th anniversary gift to Jamaica. But members frowned on the offer when they heard that its value was $311 million.

But before throwing it out altogether, three members — Chairman Easton Douglas, Managing Director Cecile Watson, who would later be chopped from the Trust in another controversy, and General Manager Donald Moore — hopped onto a Jamaica Defence Force helicopter and did an aerial tour of the area.

Tomorrow: Casualties of the NHT ‘war’